NBA Jump Shot Density for 23 Seasons

The 2020-21 NBA season tips off tomorrow night with nine games!

2020 has certainly presented its challenges, and it’s been no different for the sports world. In the National Football League, several games have had to be rescheduled this season due to several positive COVID-19 cases from around the league. Earlier this season in the NBA, the entire league moved their games to what became known as the “NBA Bubble,” which was an isolation zone at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, with the purpose to protect the NBA players for the remainder of the season.

NBA Jump Shot Density for 23 Seasons from r/DataArt

Jump shots are one of the most exciting parts of the action in the National Basketball Association, and this very interesting graphic from /u/Alexander_Varlamov and CoolBlueData.com takes a look at the jump shot density in the NBA for a span of 23 basketball seasons (it begins with the 1997-1998 NBA season). Some of the greatest jump shooters in the history of the NBA are actually active today, including Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, Kyle Korver of the Milwaukee Bucks, and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.

As the animated timeline ticks past the 2003-2004 season, a shift in how the game is played becomes obvious—players have become much more likely to go for three-pointers than in the past. By 2016-2017, it had become the vast majority of shots, and in the 2019-2020 season, the map seems to indicate that two-pointer jump shots have become a true rarity in the game of basketball. Teams know that three-pointers can win championships, and if you can hit them consistently, the extra points can really add up!

Currently, the longest successful jump shot in the history of the National Basketball Association was 89 feet (27 m), and it was hit by Baron Davis on February 17, 2001. Davis made the shot with just 0.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter of a game at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Bucks. Baron Davis played for the Charlotte Hornets at the time, and also spent time with the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks over the course of 15-season NBA career.